Dead Woman's Ditch is an earthwork which has been scheduled as an ancient monument in Over Stowey, Somerset, England situated on the Quantock Hills.
A linear earthwork consisting of a bank with a ditch along the west side running for approximately 950 metres (3,120 ft) from a spring known as Lady's Fountain across Robin Uprights Hill and down into Ramscombe. [1] The earthwork is presumed to be of prehistoric origin and is of unknown purpose, but has been linked to Dowsborough. [2]
The 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) long earthwork has been cut through by later tracks and a road. [3] It is badly eroded in places and is on the Heritage at Risk Register. [4] Part of the earthwork is on land owned by the Forestry Commission. [5]
Dead Woman's Ditch is sometimes associated with the murder of Jane Walford by her husband John in 1789 but the name predates the murder, appearing on an earlier map. [6] In 1988 the body of Shirley Banks was found 1 mile from the site; John Cannan was found guilty of her murder. [7]
